Summer of Stars is a MovieJawn celebration of actors that have shined on the silver screen. Follow along as we count down some of our favorite players from various eras in the magical cosmos of cinema.

I AM (in) LOVE with Tilda Swinton

by Gary M. Kramer, Staff Writer

The incomparable Tilda Swinton is an unlikely movie star. “I don’t have a career, I have a life,” she told me back in 2001, describing her first Hollywood film The Beach—which she made after working for nearly 15 years with avant-garde artists and filmmakers including Derek Jarman, Sally Potter, and Lynne Hershman-Leeson—as her “experimental film.” 

Swinton, who won an Oscar for the Hollywood drama, Michael Clayton, continues to make arthouse fair such as Memoria, and works regularly with indie darlings like the Coen Brothers, Jim Jarmusch, and Wes Anderson. But she has also appeared in several MCU films as The Ancient One and played the White Witch in the Chronicles of Narnia series.

What makes Swinton so captivating is not just her eclectic roles—she had an amusing turn in Bong Joon Ho’s Snowpiercer—her fearlessness as an actress (see Julia), but how she is always so spellbinding on screen. One just cannot look away from her. It is not her statuesque, often androgynous appearance, but because she reveals so much by often doing so little. 

Arguably, her most extraordinary performance is in Luca Guadagnino’s opulent romantic drama I Am Love (2009). Swinton plays Emma Recchi, the Russian-born wife of Tancredi (Pippo Delbono), a wealthy Milanese industrialist. Swinton speaks in both Italian and Russian in the film (take that La Streep), but what makes her performance so enthralling is that she can express countless feelings with a look rather than a word of dialogue. 

In one of the film’s most famous scenes, Emma experiences ecstasy eating a prawn dish prepared by Antonio (Edoardo Gabbriellini), a friend of her son Eduardo’s (Flavio Parenti). The sensations of flavor are conveyed not just through the widening of her eyes as she savors every bite, but how she can barely contain her emotions. That Guadagnino’s puts a spotlight on Emma in this sequence only enhances her pleasure, which is like an out of body experience.  Emma has been awakened by this dish; it makes her fall in love.

As she is leaving the restaurant, Emma thanks Antonio for the meal, and there is an electric charge between them. Swinton’s performance makes viewers feel it. When she later spots Antonio in San Remo, she follows him, contriving to meet “by accident,” and her determination—emphasized by the driving John Adams score—is thrilling.

When Antonio takes her up to his hilltop restaurant, she wanders around smelling the greenery, touching, and observing. She is soaking it all in. She also fantasizes about kissing Antonio—who unbeknownst to her longs to do the same. Returning home, she rushes to the bathroom. Watching her process her desires while relieving herself is astonishing. In this one scene, Swinton conveys Emma’s joy (smiling), shame (putting her hand over her mouth to control her feelings which are trying to escape), and release (laughing to herself). Viewers no doubt share her giddiness, and when the camera closes in on her as she looks in the mirror and raises her eyebrows, it signals her mind is made up about the affair. It’s a remarkable moment.

Swinton was literally speechless in her second collaboration with Guadagnino, A Bigger Splash in 2015. (The film was a remake of La Piscine, and Swinton played a rock star with laryngitis.) And while she is phenomenal in that film, I Am Love is a juicier role. Early on in the film, Emma makes a discovery that her daughter, Betta (Alba Rohrwacher) is a lesbian. Emma is at first stunned by this, but she keeps her daughter’s secret when Tancredi suggests Betta might return to her boyfriend. When Betta comes out to her mother, Emma is supportive; it bonds them. Moreover, it could be argued, Betta inspires Emma to seek out someone she truly loves. A silent exchange between daughter and mother in the film’s antepenultimate shot indicates a tacit understanding between them. 

I Am Love is a very sensorial film. It is not just the stimulating food that viewers can practically taste, or the rhythmic soundtrack. Swinton cuts a striking figure in the fabulous Jill Sanders dresses she wears, and the film’s sex scene, shot in a field, is truly erotic. Swinton is so unselfconscious that close-ups of her naked body don’t feel exploitative or intrusive; in fact, just the opposite—viewers can feel the sweat on Swinton’s body and the passion Emma is experiencing. Swinton acts with her sweat, and Emma is not a woman who often perspires. 

But there is a moment, late in the film where Emma is caught off guard. Antonio has prepared a Russian soup that Emma has long made for Eduardo. When it is served, mother and son glance at each other, and it confirms Eduardo’s suspicions that she is having an affair with his friend. It is a devastating moment followed by several more devasting ones, including one shocking episode that leaves Emma changed forever. Dazed throughout the last reel of I Am Love, and Swinton has a haunted look that sucker punches viewers. 

Then comes the kicker. When she boldly confesses her love for Antonio to Tancredi, Emma flinches as he approaches, anticipating and convinced that he will strike her. It is a fantastic reaction, and it proves why Swinton is such an incredible actress. Not only does she get so deep inside her characters’ mindset, she makes viewers feel things that have not even happened.